Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the 38th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, in both official languages, regarding its order of reference of Tuesday, May 6, 2003, in relation to Bill C-34, an act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (Ethics Commissioner and Senate Ethics Officer) and other acts in consequence. The committee has considered Bill C-34 and reports the bill with one amendment.

I would like to thank the members of the committee and also and in particular the staff of the committee and the additional staff we had for this very important legislation. This was a very fine piece of work.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Pursuant to its order of reference of Monday, April 28, 2003, your committee has considered Bill C-32, an act to amend the Criminal Code and other acts, and has agreed to report it with amendments.

I also have the honour to table, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

In accordance with its reference of Wednesday, June 4, 2003, your committee has considered Bill C-205, an act to amend the Statutory Instruments Act (disallowance procedure for statutory instruments) and has agreed to report it without amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, entitled “Our Cultural Sovereignty: The Second Century of Canadian Broadcasting”, concerning the state of the Canadian broadcasting system.

This report has been two and a half years in the making. I am exceptionally pleased that it was done by a parliamentary committee of the House of Commons. I would like to thank all the members who took part in the work, the researchers, the expert advisers and all the parliamentary team that helped put together this very comprehensive report.

On this matter, Mr. Speaker, I was co-chair of that committee. I was very pleased with the input that we received from many Canadians. I pay particular attention to two from my constituency, Mr. Ken Collins and Mr. Roger Davies, who appeared before the committee in March 2002.

I am presenting a dissenting report and will be discussing this in full at the National Press Club theatre in a very short period of time, but I want to make particular note of the input of Canadians.

I mentioned Mr. Roger Davies, who was a tireless volunteer. He presented to the committee in March 2002. Unfortunately he passed away last summer and so he will never see this report. I would say that I would like to dedicate it to him, except that he and I had some pretty significant differences of opinion on this kind of issue, but I do want to acknowledge that Mr. Davies, along with all of the other people who came before committee, gave us so much to chew on and so much good information. I wish to thank all Canadians for their participation in this report.

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-442, an act to amend the Firearms Act.

Mr. Speaker, this private member's bill is my own initiative. Frankly, it is my response to this government's approach to gun control via Bill C-68 and the registry.Currently the Firearms Act says that if in the past five years a person has committed a violent crime and has been convicted of a violent crime or of threatening to commit a violent crime, that person cannot apply to own a firearm for five years.

My private member's bill does not say after five years: it says if a person has ever committed a violent crime in their life never does that person get to own a gun. If a person has ever beat his wife or ever committed rape or ever committed murder and is released from jail, never in his life does that person get to own a gun in Canada. This is effective criminal justice and this is something the Liberals should put into law.

Geoff ReganParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties, and I think if you were to seek it, you would find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move that the second report of the Standing Committee on Health be concurred in.

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition sent to me on behalf of several hundred people who live within the county of Mountain View in my beautiful riding of Wild Rose. They recognize that the House passed a motion in June 1999 which established the fact that marriage continues to be recognized as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. The petition calls upon Parliament to uphold the decision that was made in 1999.

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition pursuant to Standing Order 36 from petitioners in the Leamington area in my riding of Chatham--Kent Essex. They ask that the House maintain the status of marriage between one man and one woman. They recognize that the House passed a motion in June 1999 which called for marriage to continue to be defined as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. The petitioners ask Parliament to recognize that and pass a law in order to confirm that.